#which will probably happen before the next main story beat

[therebtrilogy]

C0LVMBINE + TYLER THE CREATOR INPUTS

this is a rework of a post from a last account — MOST OF THIS STUFF WONT MAKE SENSE AND I APOLOGIZE !! i tend to ramble but have no work to back it up with, so take it with a grain of salt.

BASICS Eric and Dylan are big tyler fans. Dylan found Tyler first from the hype of yonkers and put Eric on. Eric loved Tyler for more edgy lyricism and Dylan loved Tyler for the instrumentals and the later on storyline of the wolf trilogy and relatability of Sam. Eric goes as far into Tyler’s discography up to wolf and select songs off of CHERRY BOMB because of the disappointment Eric had when he listened to flower boy. Dylan listens to Tyler’s whole discography for instrumentals and lyricism beyond the edgy themes in Bastard and Goblin.

FAVORITE SONGS starting off with Eric , his favorite Tyler song is Radicals. This is basically his anthem and what he stands for. Take a look on genius or better yet listen to the song and focus on the lyrics and it makes sense. He regularly writes the chant kill people burn shit fuck school on his school planner , i feel like if this was modern day he’d probably have that or a lyric from that song on his shirt. He’d blast that song everywhere , doom levels , his AOL profile , car , what not. He gets a boost of a mood just listening to the song whenever wherever. Him and Dylan often sing that song at the top of their lungs. as long as any tyler song has any really edgy beat or lyric , Eric loves it. Now for Dylan his favorite song would be Sarah or IFHY. Sarah because of the fantasies he wrote in his journal lining up with the basic story of the song. If you haven’t listened to that song , the whole plot of it is Tyler getting rejected by a girl he likes then k1dn4ps her, r4pp3s her ,k!!lls her then eats her , k!!ling himself after doing so once police arrive. do i need to explain , yes. but i don’t want to. another song he would really love is IFHY , along with any song off of the wolf trilogy in Sam’s POV. IFHY because of the journal diaries of the girl he wants but “can’t have” — and also supposedly she didn’t even know he existed 💀 the whole song of IFHY is the villain in the wolf album, Sam , being at his most vulnerable state when he finds out his girlfriend Salem is hanging out with the main character Wolf. In the song he’s basically just talking about how much he loves Salem but quickly changes into something passive aggressive because of his so called mood swings or his ego. Something like Dylan’s journal , without the passive aggression. Eric and Dylan have a mutual love for some songs like DEATHCAMP , Pigs , Radicals , Yonkers , She , any song before flower boy. I also like to think that they try and believe they see themselves in the ending of Oldies with Tyler’s last part.

WOLF TRILOGY CHARACTERS Starting off with Dylan , he is Sam. I’ve mentioned earlier about Dylan loving the album WOLF because of relatability. Sam is a character who is the villain in the album. He has a big ego of being a leader of a group and being in part of the drvg dealing sales in america. But we later find out by a conversation between Salem , Sam’s gf, and Wolf about how Sam ended up at camp flog gnaw (the setting of the album), which was by Sam pew pewing his school because of the mistreatment by his peers and having no one to talk to. It reveals Sam is just a guy with a big ego but fragile person without his ego. Also what Dylan is. Next is Eric, he would be Ace/Tyler. Since we won’t and probably never will know of who Eric really was , we perceive him as the character he put up, Reb. As we know Reb , he is very edgy and mean . boom that’s basically what Ace is . Ace is a manifestation of Tyler’s violent thoughts and feelings and is used as an alter ego. Same with what Eric does with Reb , thinking and saying violent acts and thoughts but never truly acting upon them (other than what happened).

CLOTHING Dylan and Eric have some clothes from Tyler. and it’s surprising because i know their parents would complain about the prices. Eric owns any GOLF WANG or Odd Future if the design is edgy or violent. He owns a lot of clothes from the goblin era. He also owns essentials of shirts that just say golf or odd future and he goes around with pride wearing them. Dylan would get the shirts hoodies and what not as long as they have a good design. he tries his best to dress like how Sam does because of how he sees himself in that character. Whenever Eric And Dylan’s parents say no to buying them clothes they make their own reps. They aren’t good ,but it’s not like anyone cares.

IF E AND D MET TYLER this is just for fun . I feel like they would freak out and be able to control themselves but not. they’d annoy tyler about how they feel like he’s the only one who truly understands them. Tyler doesn’t take anything seriously and makes fun of them , he ends it off with good notes though — eric and dylan would never shut up about this interaction ever

END OF THE POST , THANKS FOR READING !! this may or may not be updated if i get new ideas or not , feel free to drop your thoughts of this ! bonus points if you guys draw something based off this post — plz i’m desperate 💀

[orcelito]

Really, things r gonna start moving so much faster in discacc if I can just get off my Ass and write more

Like I was thinking about it and there's really only one more major story beat to hit before I can move onto the next big thing. And ohhhhh I am so excited for this thing.

[i2ycat]

playing4u

pairing non-idol!heeseung x fem!reader synopsis college boy heeseung that dedicates his songs to u, plays the guitar for u and never fails to sing u to sleep whenever u want genre college au, established relationship in the second half, fluff warnings not proofread, down bad heeseung… main masterlist

reblogs and comments are very much appreciated!

before u guys started dating

one thing about u and heeseung is that u both LIVE, LAUGH and LOVE music

picture this; u guys are at a music festival, probably something like head in the clouds

u’re singing ur heart out to niki’s set list (as u should) and heeseung, who was just beside u, happened to turn his head at ur direction

and GOD. FUCKING. DAMN.

boy was absolutely starstruck the moment he laid eyes on u, despite the scorching heat that rendered u a sweaty mess

he felt like he was in a movie

and he swore he felt his heart thumping faster and faster, which definitely wasn’t because of the bass or the crowd around him

he was too scared to ask for ur number right there and then, because honestly he’s highkey lowkey a loser…

he doesn’t have the rizz people think he has!

by the end of the night, he left the venue feeling defeated. the post-concert blues weren’t even hitting the way it should because all he could think about was u

in the next following days, he’s probably written songs about how he saw the prettiest girl but she got away, posting them on his private, for only his friends to see

“WHO IS THE GIRL.” jungwon drills heeseung for answers during a group game night at their dorm, which piques the interest of everyone else because when has heeseung ever shown this much interest in a girl, to the point where he would write literal SONGS FOR SAID GIRL??

heeseung describes the girl in perfect detail, from the colour of your hair to the tattoo u had on ur arm

“hey… isn’t he just describing y/n?” niki asks, trying to connect the dots with heeseung’s description of u and his own memory

“didn’t she post a story about head in the clouds a few days ago as well?? i swear i saw it.” sunoo adds as he pulls out his phone, “wait let me find her instagram,” and by this time heeseung could already feel the familiar rhythm of his heart thumping to the same beat it did on the day of the festival

“is this her?”

heeseung couldn’t believe his eyes. after all this time (it’s only been a week please), he finally was able to put a name to his mystery girl!

when i tell this man LEAPED when he found out that u both had mutual friends all this time… yea he was already down BAD.

more under cut!

after u guys started dating

it only took a month or two of talking for u to fall head over heels for heeseung

i mean how could u not when he’s so beyond perfect???

he’s never failed to pick u up from ur classes whenever he could, give u a shoulder to cry on when u were stressed about ur finals, and plan the majority of ur dates without u ever lifting a finger— u were his princess and he made very sure that u and everyone else knew it

because of ur joint interests in music, u guys would always send each other music that u’re currently listening to

“flo milli?”

“what? sometimes guys want to feel like a bad bitch too.”

other than sharing music, heeseung would 100% sing u to sleep whenever u ask for it… actually, atp u don’t even need to ask for it anymore because he already knows

u guys would be on the bed, and as his hands snakes around u to caress ur head lovingly, hee would start humming a soft tune

the vibrations of it lulling u closer to sleep

and when u actually fall asleep, he would kiss ur head goodnight and flick the bed lights off, tucking himself closer to u :((

before u guys even started dating, heeseung was already writing songs about u, so after dating, the amount of songs dedicated to and for u would only increase tenfold

he’d record them just for ur ears to hear

and when he’s letting u hear the songs he’s made, he always has this lovestruck smile on his face, eyes totally glossed over and heart in his hand for you take…

u’ve become his ultimate muse, his inspiration in all aspects of his life

u could tell just how much he loves you from the songs he makes— the melody, the emotions he sings with, the lyrics… all of it just screams that he’s totally head over heels for u

he would even let u have ur moment in his songs, either singing or just talking in the background… because he always wants to incorporate u into his art

when heeseung does decide to post the music he makes, he always makes sure to use ur photos as the cover because almost every song is about u and for u 😭 man physically cannot shut up about u

he’s talked all of his friends ears off ab how u cute u looked in his hoodie, how u pretty u were yesterday, and the day before that and probably tomorrow as well

there would be a point in time when u randomly mentioned that u found guys who play the guitar attractive and u know what heeseung did that day? applied for a guitar class, only to showcase what he’s learnt so far a few weeks later

“hee, i didn’t even know u played the guitar?”

“well i just started learning, like, 3 weeks ago.”

“and you’re already this good?”

“what can i say? i’m a determined man.”

© i2ycat 2024

[ranahan]

I just read the Republic Commando: Hard Contact and Republic Commando: Triple Zero novels by Karen Traviss. Republic Commando is Legends now, but here are a few points that struck me about arguments I’ve seen go back and forth here on tumblr. Spoilers for the books!

Several mentions of entire batches of brothers “disappearing” for minor variances & clones being more afraid of the kaminoans than their training sergeants. Kal Skirata drunkenly breaking into tears over the poor boys. Very clear that in Traviss’s books, clones were being decommissioned.

Several mentions of clones dying in live fire exercises on Kamino before being deployed & the training sergeants standing by and doing nothing.

There’s a blurb of a retired commando, chronological age 23, biological age 60. Again, in Traviss’s books, the artificial ageing doesn’t stop when the clones reach adulthood. The main characters are also described as visibly ageing between the two books.

Pretty chilling description of the kind of brainwashing that you believe because you don’t have any reason not to when your entire life so far has lined up with it. I would completely believe these boys could execute Order 66 without the chips & all I could do would be to empathise with them.

Troopers telling their concerned jedi to not worry their pretty little head about what happens to dead troopers. Later a reinforcing mention of no bodybags needed in the GAR.

Vau nearly killing a trooper in training & making the troopers beat each other into a pulp in training.

So again, Republic Commando are Legends now but if anyone wonders where the fandom got the idea that these things happen, here’s your answer. They aren’t fandom inventions.

Other notes and personal opinions:

I mostly enjoyed Hard Contact. There were some bits near the end that fell a little flat, but overall an enjoyable military action/military science fiction novel.

Triple Zero on the other hand, not so much. The pregnancy storyline was just icky. Both in how Etain herself makes it her entire raison d’être, how she makes it the reason for why Darman now has a future, and the lack of consent on Darman’s part. She intentionally gets pregnant without ever discussing anything with him (they’ve been together for two whole weeks at this point), whether he wants kids at all, wants them with her, wants them in the middle of a war, or sees having children in the same light as she does. She’s had the most superficial of introductions to Mandalorian culture and has no idea whether or to what degree the clones or Darman as an individual share those notions—given that they probably have an understandably complicated relationship with Mandalorian culture and especially the notions of children, parents, and legacy. For all we know at this point in the series she could have completely misconstrued the whole thing. But there she goes, and decides that this is how she will fix everything and give Darman a future: a genetic legacy to outlive him.

The force-accelerated pregnancy reads like a bad fan fiction and the whole “go undercover to hide the pregnancy” reads like a Victorian novel.

Etain feels like an odd choice for a point of view character in a military science fiction story. She’s aggressively the-girl-next-door, pointedly unremarkable and ordinary. I guess the point is that readers could have a regular person’s point of view, with which to contrast the commando mindset, and to whom things can be naturally explained without infodumping. But it goes overboard and makes her seem incompetent and immature, so you start wondering what the hell is she even doing in the story or on a battlefield or what does anyone see in her.

There are sexist attitudes straight from the planet Earth. It’s in men and females, how Etain and other female characters are seen through their sex first and other characteristics second, and how they are always “other” in comparison to men. But it’s not just the women, it’s young men—the clones—too where I get this vibe. It’s very bioessentialist. There seems to be this underlying thread of pairing up and reproducing being the most valuable thing a person can do with their life. Which again, seems like an odd choice for a thematic storyline in a military science fiction novel. Like, this is not what it said on the tin.

Some of the tactical/counterterrorism side in Triple Zero feels inauthentic to me as well. There’s too much being bad boys for shock value and too little professional soldiering for my tastes anyway. But I don’t kick in doors professionally so what do I know.

No sense of numbers for galactic economy. Exhibit A: Qiilura.

Lastly, fandom: can we get more Corr? This is an EOD trooper who gets both of his hands blown off early in the war, gets stuck in a logistics centre duty while waiting for better prosthetics, still determined to get back into action to fight alongside his brothers, gets accidentally adopted by some commandos, and makes a career change from disabling fiddly explosives to kicking in doors. A round of appreciation for Corr!

[silverskye13]

What is the Tournament story so far? We hear about it in the newest chapter but it gets glossed over and I really like that sort of aspect

Do they different paths it'll go on depending on who wins???

Tell me about it I love this!

The tournament story!

No idea if it'll get talked about in depth in the plot so, yeah sure, possible (very probable) spoilers under the cut [and a very, very long rant about Colosseum lore because I have brain worms.]

First of all, format: The tournaments are basically scripted plays which hinge on set-up fights as payoff for story beats. All tournaments follow the same basic format.

Introduction: Here is the lineup of characters fighting in the arena for this tournament! There are too many gladiators to ever showcase them all at once, and there are smaller more informal productions sprinkled in between the big spectacle performances. Helsknight competes in every big spectacle performance, and will make an honorary appearance in the smaller more contained shows. (The smaller shows tend to feature smaller names and less skilled combatants, so he doesn't compete in them very often for obvious "we all know who's going to win here" reasons. The only reason he competes in those is as a favor, in which case he might show up as a final act Deus Ex Machina to save a scripted winner. This doesn't happen very often -- crowds don't like predetermined winners unless there's a really good story to go with it.)

Major plot: Something happens at the end of the intro causing the "main" characters to pick fights with each other that dictate the rest of the matches. This is when anyone allied to a certain side will also pick that side. This will always result in a deadly match, often times several, where everyone on the individual sides faces each other. Sometimes (rarely) this results in a melee, where a full scale battle is enacted on the field as the climax of the plot. There are a lot of scripted/acted monologues, and the Colosseum is often arranged into a staged arena to fit the theme of whatever the main plot is.

Minor plot: A smaller, lower stakes background plot to add levity to the main plot and break up the story beats. This is where beast masters will compete to show how well trained their beasts are, jousts will happen, feats and contests of martial strength or skill will happen. It's the palette cleanser. It will break up the tournament fighting that makes up the major plot beats. (This is also when sneakier characters might enact plans, try to get combatants to switch sides if that's relevant, or meta characters might explain denser plot beats for the audience.)

Intermission: Go get your snacks!

Minor plot climax: the winners of the smaller feats are announced, and if there was a point tie in any of the competitive categories, they will figure out who wins here, often by doing a last demonstration of skill and letting the crowd decide who has the most pinache.

Major plot climax: The big final fight(s) where the plot line is decided. Whatever the decision is for this fight is often the foundation for the next one. Particularly gnarly finishers will result in grudges that can be exploited later for plot. Sometimes the showrunners will break this by releasing a large monster into the arena halfway through the fight, forcing a "oh now we who hate each other must work together" story beat. This is normally foreshadowed and scripted ahead of time (wouldn't do for the combatants to kill each other before the wither spawns in), but every once and awhile, to keep things spicy, it will be a surprise for the fighters too, just to get more genuine shock from their "actors". Helsknight hates this, and showrunners have been known to face his fury if the fight was particularly harrowing (they're in the habit of keeping gift baskets and competition prizes on hand to smooth things over now, though Helsknight still insists it's the principle of the thing.)

Helsknight has been the reigning Champion for ages, so most of his plotlines have to do with challenges to his title. He's been a heel (bad guy) character for awhile, mostly because EB was the Colosseum's darling, representing the idea of rigorous fairness with a lot of plot points that emphasized integrity and goodness. When Helsknight was up and coming, it was natural for him to take an antagonistic role to that, ousting a paragon from his throne. Now he comfortably fills the spot of Tyrant Lord, clutching his crown with godlike strength, and total disdain for those beneath him -- though he hands out rewards and favors to those who do him good, which leads to plot points where he comes in as a Deus Ex Machina for someone else's losing fight. This doubles nicely with his habit to take very real offense when his honor is threatened, and occasionally breaking script because he's pissed off about something. (The showrunners have learned if they want a long, interesting final fight, they can't write lines about Helsknight being a coward.)

Helsknight vs The Red King

As his title implies, The Red King is a leader whose main character traits involve amassing followers through might and loyalty. His Loyal Hand is the crafty underling who goes about during tournament matches "converting" likely followers to the King's cause. There have been a handful of matches where Red, either because he thinks he can rule the Colosseum better, or because it's his divine right as a king, tries to lead a revolt against Helsknight, often leading to a 1v1 between the two of them that has always ended in Red's loss.

The most recent tournament plotline, Red was given dreams of great misfortune befalling hels, the coming of a monster that would destroy the city and everything everyone holds dear! Oh no! He spends the tournament getting the greatest heroes of the Colosseum to join his cause (with help from his clever Right Hand) in stopping this calamity from falling. He approaches Helsknight once, asking for his help, but the dignified Tyrant, holding a grudge against all the attempts of the usurper, tells him to sink or swim on his own. So Red goes to face his calamity, and a wither is let onto the battlefield, with a small army of wither skeleton minions. They fight, and when the fight hits a suitable high point, Helsknight comes striding in, begrudgingly helping because the world won't end on his watch. A tyrant can't rule rubble. When the fight is over, Red and Helsknight end as shaky allies, with Red swearing fealty to the knight so long as he continues protecting hels, the home they both share.

Helsknight vs Bratwurst

That was until MythicalSausage's hels (the guy Helsknight kicked around like a hackey sack in chapter 9) came onto the scene. He's been dominating the small show fight scene, a pretty decent midrange fighter with cool demon powers that act as a convenient third-act power up during his fights and a pretty charismatic disposition as a heel character. He got good enough to start doing trial runs in the spectacle fights as a minor character. In his second appearance, when he was supposed to challenge Helsknight and establish himself more firmly in the story canon as an ambitious antagonist, he broke script and insulted Helsknight's honor. Helsknight, predictably, broke script in retaliation and kicked his ass, instead of doing what he was supposed to do -- let the new kid get some good hits in to make the crowd happy before humbling him to set up a new story beat for the next match. The showrunners, understandably upset by the debacle, kicked Bratwurst back onto the small circuit, and set about tweaking their upcoming brackets in a way that would redeem some of Helsknight's public image.

The Current Tournament Story:

So, Helsknight, who has firmly re-established himself in the public eye as the tyrant heel, is perfectly set up to be the villain in the next arc. With some string-pulling from the Demon, the story they've crafted for the current tournament arc is that Red, upon hearing of the cruel defeat of one of the new gladiators at the hands of their "I'm trying not to be a tyrant anymore" Champion, challenges Helsknight on the grounds that their bargain was for the protection of hels, and Helsknight has gone out of his way to show that he only cares about his pride. He only fights in battles he knows he'll win (Mythical Sausage's hels) and or for his glory (swooping in to save the day at the last minute in the wither fight). To prove his claims true Red is initiating a trial by combat -- if Red wins, not only is Helsknight no longer Champion, but he is proved guilty of the sin of pride, only ever showing his face in the Colosseum to inflate his own ego. Helsknight accepts the challenge, so sure not only of his own skill, but that he's held his end of their pact, that he will not only face Red, but also his beloved Hand in battle. All who wish to fight in the name of the Champion's glory may do so, and all who wish to dispute his honor may join Red. Thus the sides are cast, and the tournament begins. Any gladiator fighting on Helsknight's behalf will be given a red cloak and plume (if wearing a helmet). Any gladiator fighting on Red's behalf will wear the Dogwarts red-and-white, with a white plume if helmeted. In between the matches, depending on who wins or loses, Helsknight and Red get to do banter, while Martyn connives on the sidelines, giving his teams a hand with weapons and armor. No matter who wins or loses, the final fight is between Helsknight, the Red King, and his Loyal Right Hand.

[spencerrxids]

untied shoelaces

fools (chapter 1)

main masterlist | series masterlist | next

pairing : Steve Harrington x fem!reader

genre : angst, Unrequited-Love (or is it? 👀)

warning : contains scene from Season 4 not really a spoiler cause it’s on the trailer

summary : in which you realize that Steve’s feelings for Nancy seems to remains the same even after all these years

wordcount : 2.6k

a/n : i don’t like this one. i wasn’t in the angsty mood half of the time i write this which was tbh frustrating me. i was supposed to be sad but i ended up being pissed cause i’m not sad? idk. i’m planning to make another part if you like this.

Have you ever just looked at someone and went like ‘God, I wish I were you’. If not, then congrats you are definitely not missing out on something important. But if it did happen to you before, then you might find yourself relating to this story more than you thought you would.

***

Steve Harrington is an asshole and she wished that she hated him for that. Instead, she falls for him, harder than she ever did, loving him as if she never loved before. She wished she could hate him for giving her reasons to do that. But no matter how hard she tried, the words that fell out of her mouth would still be lies while the truth remained in her shallow heart.

She is in love with Steve Harrington. There’s nothing in this world that could possibly change that, not even the fact that his heart is set on Nancy Wheeler. Maybe the two of them are more alike than she thought they were, after all, Steve and she are both falling for those whose heart only beats for the one that is not theirs. And there is no greater power out there that could possibly save them from the pain that awaits ahead of them.

She knew Steve for what feels like their whole life, except in this case, she does know him her whole life. Him? Not so much. Steve wasn’t exactly the one who would go around and shake hands with the others even when they were still preschoolers–not exactly the jerk he was going to be in High School, it’s the fact that everyone seems to love him so he never had the time to actually look around and notice her. He probably won’t even remember the first time he ever interacted with her, yet for her, the memory remains fresh as if it just happened the day before.

“Watch out.” She could hear someone yelling while she walked on the pavement, holding her backpack as she got closer and closer to the school. “You. Girl with the red backpack! Watch out.” Realizing that the person was talking to her, she freezes on the spot, eyes widening as it wanders warily around to check if there’s anything that is currently flying towards her.

Not a second later, she could feel the impact of someone crashing onto her back, her feet stumbled forwards a few steps before gaining back their balance. Swiftly, she turned around and found herself looking at a boy with rather voluminous hair for his age. A year older probably, she thought at that moment.

“You should really watch out.” He said, chest heaving up and down, an effect of chasing her down the street. A confused look came on her face, she opened her mouth slightly but her words went silent as the boy suddenly crouched down on one knee. “You really don’t realize it, huh? Your shoelace is untied. You could fell if only I didn’t warn you.” His little hands tied it back carefully before standing back up once more.

“And let me tell you this, falling because of that isn't exactly pleasing. It was rather embarrassing, it happened to me once.” He continues, furrowing his eyebrows together as a displeasing look goes up on his face—the unpleasant memory comes back into his mind. He cringed to himself. “Well, better watch your step next time.”

She continued standing here, frozen in time even though he was no longer around. “Thank you?” The words fell flat on earth as she said it to nothing but the air in front of her. A hue of red covered her face as she recalled the brief interaction. That was the day she decided that maybe, maybe Steve Harrington is someone who goes around and shakes hands with the others. She decided that the next time she saw him, she would express her gratitude for him.

When the day finally comes, she gives up the idea of it as his ‘friends’ drag him away just before she could speak out his name. Whispers about her name flew past her ear. She knows. She knows what those groups call her. Many names just for some stupid reasons. If we’re being truthful out here, she doesn’t really care about it. They were just a bunch of idiots who loved calling other people names to make themselves feel inferior to others. It’s okay, she thought. People make mistakes.

***

It was a random day in Middle School when Steve Harrington approached her for the second time, this might be the memory that comes to his mind when the topic of their first interaction comes up—which is never. She was closing her locker, ready to go back home as he suddenly leaned onto the locker beside her.

She was about to ignore him, thinking that he wasn’t there for her when he called out her name, almost hesitantly as if he wasn’t sure if it was actually her name. “Yeah, hi. I don’t think we were ever properly introduced. I’m Steve Harrington.” He ended that with an unusual smile on his face as if he is up to something not good. She doesn’t like it.

“I already know that?” The statement sounded more like a question instead. “Now if you excuse me-“

“No. No, wait. You live across from my house, right?” She went silent, not expecting him to realize that. When did he start to notice her existence? The thought of that rang in her mind. It is true what he said, that they are in fact neighbors. “And we’ve been going to the same school since elementary school.”

Preschool, she wanted to say.

“And your point is what exactly?” She raised her eyebrows at the same boy who loves to throw a little prank around the school every now and then. He’s not really the jerk she had expected him to be but the boy that goes around and shakes his hands with others.

Steve raised his point finger up in the air. “I need a……….” She couldn’t catch what he was saying at the end of his sentence as he purposely muted himself. Hesitatingly he said it once more. “I need a – I need a tutor. Not really a tutor, I guess. I just need some help with my homeworks. And your house is near and you’re smart. So why not?”

“You want me to do your homeworks?” She asked.

“Help me. Help me with my homeworks.” He replied. “Cause I’m really really really stupid with numbers. My parents are rarely home but when they do it’ll be nice if they have something to be proud of about me, you know?”

Hearing that last part of his sentence, she found herself nodding at his request. That night she went to his house and found herself stressed because God forbid Steve Harrington to understand multiplication or any subjects that contain numbers apparently. “It’s 9. The answer is literally nine. 3 times 3 is 9.” She insisted for the 2749303th time that day.

“Yeah, Sherlock, I know that. But here, it says 3 squared. It has two and three in it which means I’m right. The answer is six.” He looks at her smugly, crossing his arm to his chest as if he just solved the greatest mystery in the world. While she just looked at him, silently wondering how the hell did he pass those classes in the past. With her mouth wide open, she found herself nodding. “Wow. You really should get a brain check, Harrington. You might just solve what even Einstein himself can’t solve.”

That night, the fates decided to write their story altogether, making them quite inseparable as their line of thread stood closely next to each other but never once ever crossed. What began from a stressed tutor-dumbass student relationship grew into a genuine friendship where she found herself getting into trouble with him. Running through the market aisle like some silly pre-teenagers. His hand held hers as he dragged her away from the angry shop owner, throwing their heads back with a wide smiles plastered on their face.

Then high school comes into the picture and ruins them all. Like it always does.

***

It’s really unfair, isn’t it? Fates must be laughing at her right now. Screw them for getting her hopes up. Maybe this is it. It has come to that moment where she needs to accept the fact that their line would never cross and tangle itself with one another–connecting them for eternity. That there would always be a border between them that won’t allow their fate to cross one another.

She had to watch him slowly slipping away from her grasp as he started hanging out with Tommy H. and Carol. It’s not that bad at first, Steve tries his best to make her feel included although clearly, it’s transparent that she wanted nothing to do with his ‘friends’. When the nickname ‘King Steve’ was thrown around she had no problem with it either. Simple meaningless title.

But when he fell for Nancy. That’s – that’s when things started to fall out of place. Even then, she couldn’t bring herself to hate the girl who owns his heart, she could never. Nancy was a nice person and she was also a good friend to her. Hell, she was defending the poor girl after the shitty stunt that Steve had pulled. Driving him to the Byers’ house so he can beg for Jonathan’s forgiveness. If they hadn’t gone there, they probably won’t ever known about the other world that lay beneath them. The dark side of Hawkins. Stories about Demogorgon, Hell-ish creatures, and the girl who apparently has powers.

When Steve passed her and went to Nancy’s side, there was an ounce of disappointment in her gut. But she quickly paid no mind to it, telling herself that in the end, they’ll be the ones who are in a relationship. Her gaze fell on Jonathan as his eyes were fixed on the girl in Steve’s embrace. With a knowing smile, she nudged him. “You too, huh?” Her hand sneaked onto his back, patting him slightly. Why can’t the two turn around and see the one who actually loves them? Good news for Jonathan, Nancy looked over her shoulder for a slight moment.

When the two finally break up with all of the ‘bullshit’ incidents. She went onto Steve’s side like she always does. Keeping the brokenhearted boy close, collecting all the pieces of his heart that have been shattered to the ground the same way she has always been keeping him close to her heart. But she doesn’t think all of her efforts had any kind of an effect on him because at that time she somehow ended up with Steve and Dustin for a few days. She had heard him talking about Nancy again. God, she wishes she were Nancy. In a world full of questions, one stood out the most to her, what does it feel like to be loved by Steve Harrington? If there’s still any chance for her to feel that, even if it were just for a minute, she would trade anything for that.

Maybe I’m not the one.

Seems foolish to feel that much all for a guy whose heart doesn’t beat at the mention of her name. She knows that. She is a foolish girl. But so is Steve for feeling the same way for a girl whose heart no longer beats at the mention of his name. When he started to talk about Nancy to Dustin, she immediately distanced herself far from the two. If only she stayed a little longer, she would have heard how he talked about her.

***

Just when she thought all of those scary things were gone, the vecna problem showed up and here she was standing on the side as her eyes fixed on Steve and Nancy inside the Creel’s house. Hasn’t seen them together side by side for a long time makes her forget how much pain she could feel all at once. She cleared her throat to gain their attention, awkwardly she pointed over her shoulders. “Umm, Max was searching for you. I think she might have got something.”

Nancy throws her an awkward smile as she walks past her. Right, everyone knows. Everyone knows it all but him. She approached Steve who was still standing there looking quite out of the place. She pointed the flashlight to his face. “What was that?” She asked him, quivering her eyebrows. A disappointed look was visible on her face. “Steve, she has Jonathan in California. You should remember that.”

“What was-No. No. Yeah, I know. About Jonathan I mean.” He paused and pressed his lip into a firm line. “It’s nothing. We were just talking.” His eyes avoided hers as he put his hand on his waist.

She nodded slowly. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. I really don’t. Not again, Steve.” She said with sincerity filling her tone. A heavy sigh got out from her as her eyes downcasted to the ground, frowning at the memory of him after the breakup. “I can’t have you–I can’t have you going back to her after–“ After I almost got you. “After all that happened to you back then. She is already happy with Jonathan.”

“So please I beg you right now. Don’t love the girl who wasted your feelings when there are others who would love you—who have been in love with you like how you’ve been in love with her. When there are others who would trade everything they have just to fill the empty space that was left by her in your heart.” She didn’t even realize how her voice cracks at the end of her sentence or how tears threaten to spill from her eyes. “Don’t be a fool.”

Notice me. I’m right here.

Steve stood there, almost looking as if he were a statue if it weren’t for the up and down of his chest. She shut her eyes, letting the tears escape from them, as she turned her head the other way. Unable to face the rejection of what she just accidentally implied to him. She could feel him getting closer to her. And when she opened her eyes, there he was crouching on one knee, tying the knot of her shoelace together. “Steve, I-“

“Your shoelace is untied. You could fell if I didn’t notice it.” He looks up at her with a sad smile on his face. She just stares at him, unmoving, unsure if this was a memory replaying itself in front of her cause once again, the memory of their first interaction remains fresh in her mind even a decade later. “And it’s not exactly pleasant to fall because of that reason.” He stands back up, now looking down at her with an unexplained look in his eyes. One that she can’t bear to look at cause she knows even if it was filled with rejection, she would fall harder instead.

“Thank you.” She paused for a second, before looking up at him. “For noticing me.”

For remembering what I thought was gone from your memory.

He puts his hand on her shoulder, grasping it softly before leaning down a little bit with a whisper. After that, he flashed her a quick smile before leaving the room. Leaving her alone as she stands there with nothing but pain filling her heart as silent tears escape her eyes. They are both fools indeed.

part 2 (pls tell me if you wanna be on the taglist)

[monstersandmaw]

Male Demon x male human witch - Chapter Four - light nsfw

I'm so sorry this month has been unusually quiet. It's been a bit of a bonkers time, with Mr. Ghosti getting a new job, then my dad's memorial happening, me upping my coppicing work and chainsaw training, and also buying a freaking motorbike(!!), but I'm back on Patreon again, and here's Demon's chapter four!! I hope you still remember the story. If not, here are some catch-up links!!

Part One, Part Two, Part Three

Content: mutual pining, lusting after your new boyfriend, an old friend, some magic, some fancy sushi, and some light steamy content before it all kicks off next chapter... Wordcount: 2601

Thank you again for your patience and support, especially the folks on Discord who were so kind when I mentioned what the state of things was.

Preview:

Carefully, Demon slid his leg over the seat in front of Jasper’s and somehow made it back to his apartment without wobbling the bike and its precious cargo off the road.

His mind was spinning and his heart refused to beat in a regular pattern. It was a good job that neither Țepeș, with his supernatural hearing, nor Coco with her ability to detect desire, was nearby. Somehow, he managed to park the Panigale in the underground parking lot of his apartment building and secure it with both a lock and a curse without blowing anything up. 

Just a week, and I’m completely fucked.

Fuck.

He led Jasper up the stairwell and into the glinting main lobby, and past the doorman who looked up and nodded. “Afternoon, Mr. Mortlake,” he said politely, eyeing Jasper with artfully-bland curiosity.

“He’s with me, Dennis,” Demon said. “You can let him in any time.”

“Of course, sir,” Dennis replied with an expression that gave absolutely nothing away.

In the elevator, Demon let the doors close, then pushed the fingerprint-locked button for the penthouse. Jasper might not have noticed but it was also protected against shapeshifters, and even those under mind control, with a nasty hex.

“Seriously?” Jasper asked when he saw which button Demon had pressed though. “The penthouse? I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess… given that monster bike you own and the fact that you are a demon. You could probably have anything in our world you wanted, but still…? Also, ‘Mortlake’? Isn’t that where John Dee had a house?”

Demon just smiled. His witch was knowledgeable too.

Fuck. He’s not my witch. 

Gods, I could be his though.

Fuck, fuckfuckfuck.

“Do I even want to know how you came by all this?” Jasper asked, glancing around at the shiny elevator walls for emphasis.

“Made a few deals in the beginning with people who were rich as Croesus before they lost their bargains. Probably best if we leave it at that though.”

“Fair enough,” Jasper said, though his eyes were a little wide and there was a twist of unease in his emotions that Demon didn’t enjoy.

 It’d be worse if you had to tell him the pain you caused to balance the bargains you made when they couldn’t keep them though, his mind helpfully supplied.

As the lift sailed upwards, Demon cleared his throat and changed the topic. “I’ll need to adjust my wards to let you in. I… I don’t invite people home often. So far they’re only attuned to about three and a half people other than me.”

“Oh. Are you sure? About me, I mean. I don’t want you to feel like —”

“I’m sure.” I’m so fucking sure it’s scaring the shit out of me.

“Ok.” After a little pause, Jasper asked, “Who are they? And who’s the half?”

“Hm?”

“The people you trust enough to let into your home…” Jasper asked. “I’m mostly just curious about the ‘half’ though.”

Demon’s lips lifted into a lopsided smile and he said, “Țepeș, Coco, and Oats, plus Oats’ kid. She’s the half.”

“Rude! Children are people too.”

Demon snorted. “This one’s half horse. Does that still count?”

“Half… horse?”

“Kelpie, technically. But so is Oats.”

“Oats?” Jasper looked baffled. He clearly knew about supernatural creatures other than witches and demons though. “Because he’s a kelpie? And horses like… oats?”

“Because he’s always got granola bars in his pockets for his kid. We’ve all got nicknames for each other. ‘Demon’ was mine for… obvious reasons,” he said. “It wasn’t meant with much grace to start with, but it stuck anyway. Same goes for Hot Stuff.” The doors pinged but they didn’t get out straight away. “You’ll probably have to meet Hank’s little family at Full Moon some time soon, but for now, I’m going to keep you to myself. Well, for tonight anyway.”

He stepped out of the lift and turned away from Jasper so that he didn't have to reveal just how much he wanted it to be longer than ‘tonight’, and how much the idea of what might come next terrified him just as much. The idea of Jasper walking away and Demon never seeing him again sparked an almost physical pain in his chest, just where his ribs flared. 

Read the whole thing over on Patreon now! Remember all my writing is now going up ONLY on Patreon, but anything that would have been free to read here on Tumblr will be free to read over on Patreon. Just become a free member, or join a tier and get early access, plus access to my huge archive of exclusive content.

[thewebcomicsreview]

I enjoy how you write action, do you have any tips for writing action in a webcomic? I struggle with the inherently broken up pace of reading a webcomic interacting with wanting a cool action scene.

To be honest, I don't think I'm particularly good at writing action, and wouldn't offer advice on it if you didn't ask! That said, my first advice would be to go read Ten Earth-Shattering Blows, which I think has great action scenes. Will it help you as I writer? I dunno, but it's a rad comic.

That aside, I think action scenes are just normal scenes that happen to have action, and follow all the same rules. A fight scene is a scene with a story within itself that also (hopefully) adds something to the comic as a whole. And, as a webcomic, you probably want something interesting happening on every page, or at least most pages, and you likely can't spend 200 pages on a fight scene over 11 chapters like a shounen manga or such could. So let's take a closer look at Ten Earth-Shattering Blows, and its first major fight.

Quick recap: Landa (in the dress) is visiting a slummy low fantasy city to try and get help in a quest. She tries recruiting evil goons and they're all "We are evil goons" and she's all "Ah beans". There's some scuffling I'm skipping over before Janflinn, with the maces, secretly reveals to Landa he's been hired to protect her. Janflinn's appearance and position in the story signals to the audience that he's the main hero. His plan is interrupted when a "monster" who saw Landa earlier and freaked out, escapes from a cage that was hanging nearby and jumps on the roof.

Janflinn effortlessly one-shots the monster, and all the characters exposit about how kewl and powerful he is. This establishes him as a powerful badass fighter, and we begin to form a mental image of him and Landa going on adventures.

Except get fucked, the monster gets back up and kills Janflinn with her own face! Your mental image of how this comic was going was wrong!

The monster beats two other guards to prove she didn't just get lucky, then uses Janflinn's weapons to get her mask off, revealing herself to be a woman. She takes Landa hostage, which has plot implications obviously, but also establishes what kind of person she is. She tells the evil goons she'll kill Landa if they attack her, and they're all "We are evil goons" and she's all "Ah beans".

She is challenged to a duel by one of the dudes, and compliments his axe before killing him with a throwing knife. From this setup, you'd expect her next line to be something like "I'm taking it" and taking his axe, but no, she books it. This, again, establishes her character. She's a tough and strong barbarian, but she's pragmatic and isn't going to show off unnecessarily. Also it's setting up a cliche and then doing something else instead.

The goons shoot down at our protagonists with arrows, so the monster pulls them into a building, smashing the innocent rando in the way. This provides a bit of a breather in the fight, so that the Monster and Landa can have a quick conversation establishing why the Monster's still carrying Landa who had no use as a hostage.

Plot points established, goons show up and force our protagonists to move to a new location in a cool and exciting way.

The monster unintentionally drops a sword into the crowd, and yells at the slaves to revolt, creating a bunch of chaos, before fighting a goon who ends up being stronger than he looks and getting the upper hand (Protip! Unnamed goons can still be competent and threatening! Most of the great Indiana Jones action scenes are against competent goons, and good goonery is badly under-rated). While the monster gets out of this jam through some cleverness, this is helping set the tone for her. She's not the Incredible Hulk, and while she's way bigger and stronger than most people in this setting, there are still a lot of dudes even bigger and stronger than her, and she needs to use her wits to survive.

Though, for a finale escape, we actually get a joke at the monster's expense, when her "Ride on a lizard and jump over the wall" plan fails and they have to kind of scrib-scrabble up the rest of the way.

Nevertheless, scrib-scrabble up the wall they do, as people look on in shock at how cool "this woman" is, and she grabs Landa and they ride off on a pig.

So, this whole scene was about 22 pages, with a bit of talking in the middle. What have we learned

This comic will go out of its way to set up a cliche plot and then surprise you with a twist

The monster is our protagonist. Landa is also here, but she is completely useless at basically everything.

The monster has no compunctions about killing people and fighting dirty to do it, and isn't super discriminating about who "deserves" violence.

This setting is full of silly miniboss types, and anyone and any time could potentially be a match for the monster, even if she herself can't always know how tough a dude is until after the fight starts.

The monster is kidnapping Landa for plot reasons

The monster is a strong badass

But she's not the strongest badass in the world, by a long shot, and also has to use her wits to win fights

Her wits are also slightly unreliable, so she has to use determination and pluck to seal the deal.

The monster can start a slave revolt by literally just going "Revolt! >:(". This is not a very stable society.

That's a lot of learning! We are getting a lot of exposition with our muscly violence. Flexposition™! And all this learning and plot development goes miles towards make the fight be a fight scene and not just the comic stopping so people can punch each other for a bit.

As long as the scene works as a scene and does the things you want it to do, all the face punching and chandelier-swinging is the seasoning you add on top.

Of course, a fight scene can have an entirely internal narrative as well, that tells us something interesting (quick example: Luke vs Vader in Empire Strikes Back, and the way Vader starts the fight really casual and bored and gets progressively more pissed off, most good pro wrestling matches, etc etc). The point of your scene can be whatever you want, even "Look how cool this fight scene is!". As long as you know what that point is and keep building to it, you're probably on the right track

[magnorious]

Review: I Plunge to My Death; Percy Jackson Ep. 4

TL;DR: They turned a pit-stop into a main event and troubles ensued.

The consequences of shoving half the book into the first two episodes? Episode 4. Baby Percy is, again, adorable, no complaints. The opening scene, Kronos’ slithery voice – we are right back in the thick of it, until we’re not. Best part of the episode is easily the first 4 minutes and it does not recover, I am sorry.

Echidna gets a ridiculous amount of screen time, monologuing on and on and on… On the train, no less, not in the Arch.

Adaptations are allowed to be their own thing, but they are *adaptations* first. The choices that were made in the source material were made for a reason. If the book was bad, no one would have read it, and money wouldn’t be spent turning it into a TV show.

So, in the book, Echidna had a couple pages, and Percy was completely alone confronting her. She showed up, revealed herself, got a one-liner or two in, kicked his butt, and then he fell – end of scene. It was a whirlwind of chaos and incredibly efficient without being spoonfed “I am a monster” until they get the picture.

The purpose of this beat in the story came from Percy’s experience in the river and then St. Louis is behind them – it’s a pitstop, not a centerpiece. Echidna has no thematic connection to any of the characters like Medusa, she doesn’t need to overstay her welcome.

If you didn’t read the book, the episode is fine. The writing is okay, the acting, the VFX. They do retain the family of centaurs and establish Grover being a Searcher for Pan.

It’s not bad! It’s puzzling. The changes are puzzling.

All the filler – Echidna’s monologue, Athena’s temple, Annabeth being unnecessarily rude to Grover, Percy getting poisoned – they don’t feel like the same meaningful changes that were made to extend Medusa’s scenes. They feel like they exist to fill an entire episode before the next big set piece that has to wait until episode 5. The pacing has been thrown completely off balance.

Which wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t rush ten chapters of content.

Because they knew exactly how long the chimera fight would be – about 45 seconds, beat for beat, exactly as it was written. Echidna is just not important in the grand scheme of the story. They still have to fill an entire episode now, so what do they do?

They double back on the character development and the growing friendship established in episode 3 when they all start arguing over Athena for… reasons? In Athena’s temple, Annabeth’s suggestion for Percy to reach out to his dad there would be mighty offensive to the goddess. She calls herself out, saying she knows she’s forcing herself to believe Athena cares about her, the way it was written just makes her look selfish and rude.

There Grover is, all upset about the monument filled with paintings of humans over-hunting buffalo and Annabeth’s response is basically “get over it”. Doesn’t matter if she regrets it once he’s gone, she doesn’t apologize to him and she still believes what she said.

Percy doesn’t need to be poisoned to lose hard to Echidna and the chimera. He’s at his full strength and still panics and botches the fight. He already doubts that his dad cares about him.

The episode does recover its footing somewhat (after padding the runtime) by finally getting him alone in the last 8 minutes. Percy cements his disdain for his dad and how little he feels appreciated, respected, or even noticed by the gods – enough to decide he’ll fight and probably lose alone because he doesn’t matter to the gods anyway. Once he’s in the river, the nereid shows up, tells him to breathe, that Poseidon’s proud, and… cut to black. There's no wonder at his new abilities, no fascination, no "maybe being a demigod is a little bit cool, wow," and no consideration that his dad does care, even a little bit.

The only book change for the better? Percy choosing to go at it alone instead of ending up alone by accident.

I hate to come down so hard on this episode but pacing is critical. The beginning of the book feels slow because there’s a lot of internal monologue, a lot of introspection, lots of breaks between action, and several time skips – Percy spends a couple days at camp before going on his quest and packs a lot of character building moments into it – and they rushed through it all.

St. Louis was already rushed in the book, and this is where they decided to throw in all the filler to slow it down? Writers, if you wanted to pad the runtime, include Gladiola the Poodle giving them directions. Include chapter 14 – the entirety of which is spent in the river establishing new powers and getting told about the gift in Santa Monica, and exacerbating the problem of Percy being mistaken for a terrorist. Ares can still wait and no one would complain.

It’s not the acting, from anyone. It’s not the directing, either. Everyone who worked on this show: The actors, the editors, the set designers, costume department, makeup department, VFX, foley, props, music and sound design, and everyone in between – you all did fantastic and your work is recognized and appreciated.

It’s the big picture that just did not come together this time.

I really, truly, wanted to enjoy this episode coming off the high that was Episode 3 and I’m just left confused once again at all the choices that were made. Just because the bar for greatness was two feet into the topsoil from the first adaptation doesn’t mean it gets to skate by on “well it’s better than what we got before”.

[rebelliousstories]

Take You In Real Slow

Kiss Me You Animal

Relationship: Cooper “The Ghoul” Howard x Zylia “The Freak” Shelley

Fandom: Fallout

Request: No

Warnings: Angst, Strong Language, Fluff, Mentions of Death

Word Count: 1,161

Main Masterlist: Here

Fallout Masterlist: Here

Previous Chapter// Next Chapter

Kiss Me You Animal Masterlist: Here

Summary: Finding an unlikely companion, Cooper can not help but to be amazed by the woman before him.

A deep breath left the woman as she leaned against the wall behind her. Zylia was trying to calm her racing thoughts but nothing seemed to work. The stare from in front of her caused her to consider her words very carefully. One wrong word, one wrong move, and she was a goner.

“My earliest memory was being inside of a chamber in a vault. Vault four. It was run by scientists and I was a test subject. I don’t really remember how long I was in the vault. But it was just full of pain and suffering.” Her eyes were downcast, unable to stare The Ghoul in his eyes.

“Day and night, I was poked and prodded. Blood taken, blood given. I don’t even remember when the change in me happened. But I remember the pain. It was unlike anything I had ever felt then or since. Whatever they did, it- it changed me. Forever. I’ve lost all sense of time, I crave blood, and without it, I think I die. I’m not sure.” Her explanation continued, while Cooper said nothing.

“They left my chamber unlocked one day by accident. So I took my chance and ran. I killed so many people just trying to escape, and I’m sure that makes me a bad person. But I’m trying to do better. All I want is peace and answers. That’s why when I escaped, I got my file. I’ve spent years trying to find someone to teach me how to read it, but no luck.” As she concluded her story, her hands fiddled with the stack of worn papers that were in her hands. There was a beat of silence, and it encompassed them both.

“Well, that is a mighty fine story there, little Dracula.” This caused the woman to look towards The Ghoul confused.

“What the hell is a ‘Dracula?’” Zylia tried to wrack her brain for anytime that she had heard that word, but came p empty.

“Somethin’ from before your time. Sounds like you got dealt a shitty hand though.” He commented, pushing himself off of the wall and coming closer to the woman. She remained against the wall, and looked cautiously towards him.

“I deal with it.” That was all she cold say.

“So, when you enter a fine establishment, that is just everywhere up here, do you need permission to enter?” Cooper teased, stepping into the woman’s bubble.

“The hell are you talking about, Ghoul?” She snapped. He tried to brush a hand through her hair but she slapped him away.

“What about a cross? If I have that or garlic, can I stop you?” Another remark. This time Zylia tried to shove Howard away from her, but he remained in his place.

“Are you just gonna make fun of me? You wanted a story, I gave you one. Now let me go.” Another shove and Cooper was out of the woman’s way. He stumbled back and held his hands up in defense while Zylia tried to navigate her way out.

“Hold on now, things were just gettin’ good. I’d hate to ruin the party now.” The man now blocked the entrance that they had stumbled through a few hours ago, which infuriated the woman.

“And why the hell should I stay? You’re just gonna make fun of me.” She countered, not liking the fact that a ghoul had taken a liking to her.

“Well, let’s just say you are the most interesting thing I have seen in these God forsaken Wastelands in about two hundred years. And now that’s a long time to go without a little bit of interest or entertainment.” Cooper drawled, flicking the edge of his hat.

“I don’t give a damn if you find me interesting. I’m not some whore you pay a few hundred caps to entertain you!”

This prompted a chuckle from The Ghoul. He was watching in amusement as the woman was getting fired up at him. She probably did not even realize that there was the barest hint of a flush to her cheeks, or that the veins on her face and body were becoming more and more prominent.

“What?” She screamed, leveling a glare towards the man. The sun outside was less boiling than before as it began to set.

“You’re adorable when you’re angry. Just a cute little vampire gettin’ all worked up.” He drawled.

“Well then I’m about real damn cute. Let me go.” Zylia tried to move around him, but he followed her every time. She would move to her right, and he would move to his left. Zylia tried to move the other way, and Cooper followed. Now, she was even more pissed off.

“Why aren’t you letting me leave,” came her yell. But there was an underlying pleading tone to it. Cooper began to open his mother’s to talk, but she just held up a hand to stop him.

“If you say because I’m entertaining, or anything of the sort, so help me. I will kill you right here, Ghoul.” She threatened, causing said ghoul to rethink for a moment.

“Well, you are interestin’, and therefore entertain’ to me. Or maybe I just like you sweetheart. Ever think of that?” He teased, finding joy in watching her fluster.

“Why are you being nice to me?” Finally, she asked. Cooper kicked around a can on the floor and looked out towards the setting sun. The sky was alight with vibrant shades of red, orange, purple, and blue.

“Can’t a fella just like a girl that seems even more fucked up than he is?” The drawl was back, which just made the woman groan.

“In this world? Hell no.” She barked. The Ghoul just chuckled as he watched. He was delighting in her frustration.

“So what is an appropriate answer for wantin’ to spend time with such an interesting young lady such as yourself?” He asked, walking closer to her once more. Zylia kept a scowl on her face as she answered.

“There isn’t one, asshole.”

Cooper chuckled as he saw the last rays of light disappear below the horizon. His head was turned, and he basked in the fleeting warmth of it all. There was not a word spoken between the pair as night took over. It was very difficult to see the other person without the light of the sun. But the moon started to trickle in following the same path that the sun was just in moments ago.

“Well, seein’ as we ain’t got no more light to make it safely across. Would you delight an old cowpoke like me with some company?” Howard began to settle himself in for the night, including starting a fire in the middle of the room. He shuffled the bodies out of the way and sat down next to the warming flames.

“You sittin’ down or goin’ vampire?” Zylia stood there, confused about what she was going to do with The Ghoul before her.

[multbasa]

IDK if this is controversial, but apparently TotK won't get DLC:

Good.

Honestly I can't think of a good way for them to add DLC. I would like a second quest playing Zelda like what was thought of for Skyward Sword but we already see her main story beats and there's not a lot to even make a good playable experience with her in TotK.

Do we really need more shrines or another temple like what was added in BotW? Not really.

There's a lot to do in TotK and I really enjoyed it. I still enjoy it. I have my own issues with the game but they wouldn't be fixed with DLC: personally I don't think the random order of the memories works in this game and I think it should have been only available in a set order. I did watch all the geoglyph memories in order but I watched them all before finishing the temples. I wish I had not seen them first since I liked how the story played out with a mystery involving this Zelda in Hyrule yet I already knew exactly what happened to Zelda. When I play the game again from the beginning eventually I will probably play everything in a set order to keep the story in line. That being said, I absolutely love the ending and the final boss and everything leading up to that. This is seriously my favourite ending to a Zelda game to date; it was beautiful, challenging, cinematic, everything I wanted it to be.

BotW's DLC involved the late champions and I adored the final photograph together, but TotK doesn't have that. The champions have moved on and I don't think the old sages need to be fleshed out because they were quite one dimensional—if that. If they were fleshed out, I don't even know what that would be about since they basically just get involved to fight Ganondorf.

Anyway, I don't think TotK needs DLC, and as a long time fan of the series, I can't wait to see what the next game will be about, who it will be about and where it will take place. I want something fresh and new. I loved BotW Link and Zelda and the other characters but it's time to move on. TotK finished off their story.

If there's no DLC, Nintendo probably has already begun development on the next title which is super exciting. Can't wait to see it in...6 years...oof, I'm going to be 30 years old by then.

[friedwizardwhispers]

List of questions we have so far

Who gave Lu Guang the photo and wrote "save my good brother" in childish letters ?

It's either Li Tianchen or Li Tianxi, I think after episode 8, we are supposed to think it was Li Tianxi but I don't know actually.

How does Red eye's power work ? Is there more than one person being Red eyes ?

We know Li Tianchen is the one controlling them but we don't really know how, we thought it was by photo in the beginning of the season but Li Tianchen didn't have a photo of Cheng Xiaoshi when he controlled him but he had physical contact with him so maybe touch ? but then again he wasn't touching Emma or Chen Bin to make them jump or Qiao Ling to make her stab Lu Guang.

So maybe he has a partner who can do something with photos like LG and CXS and both of them are actually foils to or main duo.

Does Li Tianxi has powers ?

...Maybe ?

Who killed Liu Lan, who was possessing her when she finally defended herself and what happened before the end of the night ?

Here is what we know at the end of the night so far: We know that both the dad and the mom are dead and the two kids are still very much alive. We know That asshole was probably killed by Liu Lan with the hammer and we know that she died because she was stabbed by someone but we don't even know where the knife come from because there is no knife during the scene we watched.

We know that Cheng Xiaoshi accidentally possessed her but didn't really seem to be in control, he just was watching the scene through her eyes and that he seems to have been losing contact wit Lu Guang when Li Tianchen touched him several times before that.

We know that when she started defending herself,she kicked his ankle with her foot, which to me, seemed to be beyond her physical capabilities at that moment (considering how much of a beating she took) so is she already someone else there ?

What is the end of the fox story and what is the significance of said fox story for the plot ?

No idea, we'll see next week I think.

What happened during the investigation of his wife's murder to make Qian Jin so resentful and so okay with killing his ex-colleagues ?

I really feels like we are missing something here, he is not just angry with the guy who they let escape and the justice system, he seems furious at the group of policemen who were with him.

Also his actual reaction to the kidnapping of Lu Guang is that he doesn't really want him dead which is wild compared to how he react every time he kills one of his ex-colleague.

Who is the unnamed friend ?

Three options I think

Baby Cheng Xiaoshi: but I don't really believe it's him, his voice actor is incredibly different from adult!CSX and child!CSX and what he is saying to Li Tianchen is completely out of character and way too cynical for him as a child and as an adult.

Baby Lu Guang: We don't really know what he was like as a child and we don't have his baby voice (yet) so I think it's bit more likely ? But I also don't think it's him either.

Hat guy, I think he is the more likely one.

Which leads me to who is hat guy ?

The only theory I've seen is that he is Liu Min's younger brother. I think that's pretty likely.We have no motive for him (yet) and we don't even know what he looks like.

What was the vision of Cheng Xiaoshi dying in Lu Guang's arms ?

I have three options here:

Lu Guang actually had a vision of the future even if he doesn't realize it while dying.

Lu Guang is from the future and is actively trying to change it and that was his memories.

Lu Guang is from the future and is actively trying to change it and that was his memories but this isn't his first time (timeloop theory)

All of this options means another question, what are Lu Guang's power actually ?

Can he actually jump back in time ? can he sees things that hasn't happened yet without the need of a photo or a camera ?

And does that mean we haven't seen all of what Cheng Xiaoshi can do with his ?

What else is he hiding from us and Cheng Xiaoshi ?

What are your secrets Lu Guang ? How do you know so much about time travel ? What do you know ???????

Who saved Cheng Xiaoshi the first time ?

Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling seems to think it was CXS from the future but there are inconsistencies. If it was, nothing would have changed. The kettle would not have been used for exemple.

Was the phone and the photo for Cheng Xiaoshi or was it a way for Lu Guang to see what happen in the next 12 hours (or both) ?

I honestly think it's both. I think Lu Guang let himself be captured knowing Cheng Xiaoshi would try this specifically but does that mean he is counting on Cheng Xiaoshi changing the future ?

We don't really know if Lu Guang knows Cheng Xiaoshi knows his code but he left it in view instead of taking it with him and didn't delete the photo ? That's sus. even if he doesn't know that Cheng Xiaoshi knows his code, he has to assume the police would have a way to open his phone.

Are the numbers of the code significant ?

They emphasized this so much not to be, right ? right ? Is it a date ? (I checked and according to google the date in mandarin is Years/months/days which would make those numbers not a date considering the middle one is 13).

What are the significance of the other objects in the opening ?

We have the gun, the diary and the photos (also the Gameboy but I'm less sure about that one). We think the gun is linked to the vision, maybe. That would be the weapon that injures/kills Cheng Xiaoshi in said vision but we have no clue about the diary/book.

What is the significance of the entire opening actually ?

No idea.

Leftover question from season 1 (which will probably not be answered this season, or it'll be part of the cliffhanger).

What happened to Cheng Xiaoshi's parents ?

Did they went to buy cigarettes and never came back or is it another time travelly thing. Are we going back to that time with Cheng Xiaoshi at some point (Yes) ? I want to know. Also it would be great for character development.

What happened during that summer vacation ? Can we have more information on this ?

Okay this one is less theory based and more, I would like to know for reasons (tm) but also it feels like another chekov gun. It's a set up that has to pay off somewhere. Is this where they got theirs powers ? or is this the moment where they both realised the other had powers and they could do something with it ? or maybe I just want to know because shenanigans (also I want to see Cheng Xiaoshi recieving the call from Shanshan and Qiao Ling asking him if they came back from overseas earlier because they just saw him in front of them).

I think I covered all the questions, if you think of something else, please add it to that post.

[kierancaz]

Ok so I just watched episode 5 of the pjo show and honestly I might get dragged for this but I have some very real criticisms of it that I want to share. And if you enjoy the show that’s fine, I’m enjoying it to but at the same time I have a lot of issues with it and want to talk about it because I think being able to be real and critical of stuff that you like is important.

I think I’ll start with the pacing because that’s my biggest issue with it rn. It is moving so fast it feels like it’s just doing the spark notes version of the book. And ik we are all on the train of adaptations not having to be exactly like the book anymore, (which is literally just a thing that came about bc of this show and if it was any other show to book movie I think ppl would have a different tune but that is an entirely different conversation that maybe I’ll talk about later because I find it very interesting tbh), but the show is cutting out a lot of stuff that I feel was very important to the characters and in the books. I don’t know if this us because of the episode count or the episode length of if it’s the right, maybe it’s all three, but I feel like because the pacing is so fast the story is just breezing past a lot of emotional beats.

Which brings me to my next point. I have not felt a single thing watching any of these episodes. In fact I felt more about this show when I watching a single clip from episode 5 on TikTok than I did while watching the actual episode even at that clip. The show is so bad at building tension for literally anything. And I know everyone hates the movies and all that but the movies scene with Mrs Dodds had more tension and life than the scene did in the show. And I’ve heard people dispute “oh Percy has been seeing stuff all his life he probably thought that this was just that and didn’t realize it was real” but that has nothing to do with this. Why didn’t Mrs Dodds lead him away from all the other students? Why would she attack him in broad daylight when she’d aware that Chiron and a satyr are there? Or even if she didn’t know Chiron was there if she knew there was a demigod there she should’ve at least suspected the presence of a satyr.

The chimera fight was also very disappointing. Now I don’t remember exactly how this fight went in the books or in the movies but I don’t need to remember to know that this fight as equally tensionless and emotionless as the Mrs Dodds fight. And yah, they’re kids, it doesn’t need to be some epic battle or anything, but there should be tension. We should feel a least a little nervous even if we know what’s going to happen. Ngl. I don’t even know what to say about the Medusa fight bc I don’t even remember what happened. I don’t remember what happened in the books when it came to Medusa besides Percy cutting off her head and sending it to the gods. I’d definitely have to reread the books again before I comment on the change of theme surrounding Medusa and like half of the main theme of the series because Rick did some serious reconning with this stuff but unfortunately my books are lost somewhere in my basement.

I do think the Minotaur fight was fine really good though. The bond between Percy and his mom was built up really well and it was pretty devastating with that last scene between them. You could really feel the impact that Sally’s “death” had on him. However, it was so fucking dark it was hard to see half of what was happening and I’m gonna talk about that more later.

The next thing I want to talk about is the acting/casting. And before anyone says anything this has nothing to do with Annabeth being black or Percy not having black hair. Their characters feel flat and honestly I think that if it’s anyone’s fault it’s the directors and the script. I’ll use Walker as a reference because he’s the only one I’ve seen in anything else, in The Adam Project he was brilliant. Like there were multiple times where his performance alone had me in tears. That movie had me ugly sobbing at least three times and Walker was definitely part of the reason why.

In the pjo show he just feels… dull. And a tad bit lifeless which is baffling. How do you even make a character like Percy Jackson that, I’m sorry to say but, boring. Even the movies managed to give him more personality than the show, and I genuinely hate to say that but if I had to rank all the Percy’s show Percy is at the bottom which is so hard to say because Walker is perfect for this role but still he has more Percy Personality in that Kraft Mac and Cheese ad that he did with Ryan Reynolds. I do realize that part of this could be because we don’t have Percy’s inner monologue, sorta like what happened with Harry in Harry Potter, but there are ways to combat that like having a character be more expressive and stuff and that is also just not happening.

*(Also if anyone of curious my Percy Ranking goes 1: book Percy, 2: musical Percy, 3: movie Percy, 4: show Percy).

Speaking of expressiveness, Leah as Annabeth is also very disappointing because in her interviews she seems so Annabeth and I can see why Rick choose her but in the show all of her lines are delivered the exact same and the most emotion we get from her is a pinch of her eyebrows. And it’s a similar issue with Walker because he doesn’t emote that much either and neither does Aryan so I’m definitely thinking that it’s an issue with the directing instead of the actors. I don’t have much to say about Aryan. He’s ok, he has the same issues as the others of just not having a lot of emotion or very good dialogue/line delivery but again I don’t think that’s his fault and instead the direction of the show.

Listen I think they’re all incredible and the chemistry that they have in interviews is amazing. But the fact that I can see more of their characters in interviews than the actual show is insane, especially because it’s so obvious they all care about their characters and the world of Percy Jackson so much that I think if they were left on their own they could do this show perfectly but someone behind the scenes is stamping down their performances for the sake of the show taking itself too seriously.

Charlie and Dior were both great for the screen time they had. I mean not much to say about them tbh bc they didn’t have that much screen time but Dior’s scream after her spear was broken was literal gold. Adam Copeland as Ares was amazing and Lin Manuel Miranda as Hermes is quite possibly the worst thing that they could’ve ever done.

I know a lot of people were praising the change they made with Annabeth and Percy’s relationship and how that instead of disliking each other because of their parents they disliked each other because of bad personal impressions. But honestly I have to disagree. If I remember correctly Annabeth disliked him because he was son of Poseidon, and Percy disliked Annabeth because she was rude to him. And to me that made perfect sense because Annabeth was literally being indoctrinated by the gods/what they teach at camp for years/half her childhood why wouldn’t she hate Percy based solely on the fact her mom hates his dad? And I think that was actually kind of important as a character trait and I’m pretty bummed it was changed. (Ngl tho like I said earlier I haven’t read the books in a long time so I could be wrong about this, I’m just basing this off what other people have said about the beginning of their relationship in reference to the show and the books).

Also going back to what I said about the lighting ‼️SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 5 ‼️this really pissed me off because so many shows do this and it only started becoming a real problem in recent years. In episode 5 when Percy and Annabeth are entering the amusement park it is so goddamn dark I could not see what was happening. I have no idea what that machine over Percy’s head at the entrance was or looked like. I don’t know why it made him so scared because I could not see it. I could not see their faces as they were talking. I could literally barely see where they were when they panned out to show them walking through the amusement part and this makes no sense to me. You have this huge elaborate set that I would really like to see but it is so dark the only things I can make out is a ferris wheel and maybe a bumper car? I could not see shit, it was so annoying and so many new shows do this where the scenes at night are just so dark you cannot see anything. And I get that sometimes it’s intentional, you’re not supposed to see what’s going on, but this is not one of those scenes so why am I having such a hard time finding our main characters?

I really need to reread the books again and when I do I will add more to this probably or just remake the post. But so far I think the show is really mediocre and pretty disappointing, and I think it’s important to point this stuff out and not just heap piles of praise onto the show just because it’s written by the og writer of the book. We’re definitely going to get more seasons and I would like those seasons to be better than this one and actually let the actors shine and for the show to reflect what was so amazing about the books. Also, I just want to say that there are moments/stuff that I like about the show and as critical as I am of it it’s because I like the series, not because I’m just trying to be a hater. But seriously, I used to hate the movies with every fiber of my being but because of the show I have a new found appreciation for them, which I think that in and of itself says a lot about how the show has been so far.

[hotcheetohatredwastaken]

currently how long are bdor and its prequel when combined wordcount wise

you brought up 200k and i am both terrified and intrigued. like thats impressive. i am in awe. i can barely put a sentence together much less that many

Okay let me give you a lay of the land. And before we begin, I just have to say that I am so, so sorry. I gave you such a wrong number.

BDOR Arc 1, as of its official word count right now, is 152,892 words. It’s completely written and ready to be published save chapters 15, 18, 20, 24 (12,000 word chapter that has to go 😱) ch 27-29, and then it’s pretty much smooth sailing (with a few minor edits in there and a few scenes to add) until ch 75-76, which need some tweaking, and then the final ch 78 needs a bit of an adjustment as well, and I may delete it completely. All of these chapters specifically mentioned above are in various stages of editing, but generally the story at this point is solid. The final chapter count will probably be 80-82, because there are a few beats that need to be hit that haven’t been, some characters to flesh out more, and lovely beta reader @needfantasticstories revealed some logic errors that I need to spin up some bullcrap to cover💀. I have 9,000 words of notes for things to change in pages, and about that amount of changes in google docs as well. So I’m estimating 160,000 words for the final product there, if not more.

Arc 2 is where it gets SO dicey. My word count in my final doc right now is 44,424. I have another 6,000 ish words of notes in pages to change/tweak scenes/general scene layouts. I have another 15,884 words that have been digitized but haven’t made it into the final document because they need editing. Add onto that about 30?? Pages handwritten that haven’t even made it that far. I usually get about 600-750 words per page, so let’s tally that up to a generous 45,000 since I write front and back. There is leeway of about 20,000 words in there too, because there’s a big chunk of time (heh) I am considering only hinting at happening, but I have written out in their near entirety.

The thing is, I’ve probably written about half of arc 2 with all of that.

So assuming I keep that 20,000 chunk, and assuming I double my word count as I think I will, the final tally here is nearly 110,000 already, which will probably grow to an estimated 200,000 if not more. I am working on cutting this down XD, so stay tuned. The main plot is generally solid, but there’s a LOT of little subplots I need to wrap up lol.

Prologue: this is a little side thing I meant to just be cute little scenes from Twi and Wild’s past and it got away from me. An official 28,424 words of this are written. I’d say I have another 15 handwritten pages (front and back counted, i should clarify) in various stages of editing, so let’s say a generous 11,250. The thing is, I have a LOT of ideas, and once I finalize arc 1 and arc 2, I’m going to have a lot of free time to dig into this while the other story comes out (I probably need to start updating multiple times a week if I want to get this story out before I turn 90 XD). So this number will most definitely grow, but for now it is an estimated 39,674.

Final estimated word count (if I did the math right and also didn’t underestimate my ability to purple prose), everypony?

396,174 words!!

Oh Lord I don’t think I’d realized before I tallied everything up that it was actually this long. I think this project has run away from me. I just wanted to play with my blorbos not write the next Ancient Greek Epic. What the heck. I need to go lie down.

Also just took 3,500 from the final count because I realized I had double counted a chapter sorry ignore that.

But yeah I am hoping to cut down arc 2, so maybe 350,000? That’s being optimistic in my ability to not be longwinded though.

[amalgamateofficial]

Hi!

I’ve been following the story for a while but more as a lurker (sorry) and just started checking out your tumblr and other projects (very cool art btw!!)

But I was just kind of curious—if you don’t mind me asking, how do you figure out how long a chapter should be? Do you sort of feel it out or is it about getting a certain part of the story in one section? I dabble in writing but can never figure out chapter lengths, and thought you might have a method when I saw you mention how long 20 was specifically.

Take your time with the chapter, I’ll be waiting patiently! Happy new year and hope life starts going more smoothly haha

Hiya! So nice to hear from you -- and thank you for checking out my art! I'm so glad you like it! :D

So, when it comes to deciding the length of a chapter, I like each one to have its own mini-narrative because that ensures that each chapter is satisfying on its own. I'm gonna use a few examples from Amalgamate, so I'll put them under the cut to avoid spoiling anything for anyone who isn't caught up :)

So, chapter 6 is probably a good example of what I'm talking about. The crux of chapter 6 is: "oh no, there's no antidote, what do we do?" That means the chapter can't reach a satisfying conclusion until we do find the antidote and Maki commits multiple crimes against the Geneva Conventions to make Kokichi drink it. After she does that, however, there's still a major story beat that's not resolved, which is "Kokichi drank the antidote, but is he actually gonna wake up?" The unresolved conclusion to the chapter 6 narrative is what'll make readers want to read chapter 7.

And then chapter 7 follows a similar pattern. The goal is: Kaito needs to tell everyone the entire hangar/Exisal story before Kokichi wakes up. So, Kaito tells the entire story, but the chapter still ends with the question of whether or not Kokichi's actually waking up. The main goal was accomplished in chapter 7, but it still opened up a new path for the narrative of chapter 8.

The mini narratives don't have to be blatantly obvious either, since that runs the risk of making all the chapters seem formulaic. I think chapter 13's a good example. My goal for the chapter was the same as Kokichi's: make a Searchlight speedrun happen. But new readers (and poor Kaito, bless his heart) don't know Kokichi's goal until he finally forces it to happen in the final third of the chapter. Regardless, the chapter's battle plan for me was: set up that Kokichi has a plan (which is secretly the speedrun), trigger the plan (which is to do the speedrun), and set up the next narrative (which is, "what in the world did the speedrun actually do to Kokichi and why is he suddenly acting like a wannabe discount Mikan post-DR2 trial 3?").

But when it comes to the length of chapter 20, I'll admit I didn't actually reach my goal XD Thankfully, that ended up not being a bad thing, though. I went into the chapter with a certain stopping point in mind, but every scene in the chapter ended up requiring so much more time than I expected, and about halfway through, I realized reaching my original goal would make chapter 20 the length of "War and Peace." But there was still a mini goal I could reach on the way, and when I got there, it ended up feeling just as satisfying as the original ending because it still sets up an "okay, and" for the next chapter. Or, at least, I hope it'll feel that way! I guess we'll find out soon ;;;;;

Sorry, I'm rambling way too much here! I get a bit too excited when it comes to writing, so I hope that accidental essay was actually helpful XD Feel free to ask me questions anytime, though! I really do love talking about writing :)

[wastedlychee]

CW: DEATH BATTLE SPOILERS, FIRE EMBLEM THREE HOUSES SPOILERS AND SEMI-SPOILERS FOR BERSERK.

For people who don’t know me, I’m a loser who absolutely loves Three Houses and Berserk. I'm going to take time to talk about Dimitri VS Guts, because holy fucking shit I love this Death Battle so goddamn much. I was going to make a prediction blog for this fight but didn’t really see the point as Dimitri stomps being brutally honest.

I want to talk about Guts VS Nightmare first before talking about Guts VS Dimitri, as this is the only time I'm probably ever going to mention it: I genuinely dislike the episode.

When it originally came out, how they portrayed Guts wasn’t right at all; the thing I find

genuinely annoying is how is how after that Death Battle was released, people formed this thought that Guts was this Doom Guy/Doom Slayer-type character who slaughters demons for nothing more than sheer hate, which is true… at least at first. But then later on, Guts became-

much more than that due to his hate making him do nothing more than just become a hollow shell who fights only for his selfish desires to fight Griffith and protect Casca, even letting people into his life again and becoming friends with other people.

The story of Berserk went from being about an angry nihilist who fights just to fight, into a story about broken people helping each other in any way they can. So what did Death Battle do for Guts VS Nightmare? Make him just his angry, nihilistic self and not mention how he has changed.

There was also some research-related stuff that had issues, but to be blunt I don’t personally care about if either Guts or Nightmare should have won. If you want the truth of how I feel, Nightmare is so much stronger that the argument of “Guts beats people stronger than him everyday” isn’t really a good argument - not when unlike everyone Guts has ever fought, he's thousands of times stronger than the strongest person Guts defeated.

But that’s the main reasoning on why I don’t personally like Guts VS Nightmare - despite thinking it was okay animation-wise.

Now let's talk Dimitri VS Guts… well kind of.

I wanted to talk about my attraction towards this matchup; as mentioned before, I love both Fire Emblem and Berserk.

Starting with Dimitri: I got into Fire Emblem around the time the GBA games came out, and while I did fall off the games, I got back into them when Awakening was released.

With Berserk, I got into the manga around middle school after I was talking to a friend that I absolutely loved Hellsing and Black Lagoon. To be blunt I didn’t like Berserk at first because I disliked Guts until the time he changed, and to me changed for the absolute best. (I still wouldn't recommend Berserk tho cause....yeah)

Dimitri himself is a character that I absolutely fell in love with, from his story of mental health problems to his desire to change after the events of the timeskip as the redemption arc of sorts

happens. I’ve been wanting to do a "Who’s My Personal Favorite Characters of All Time" list, but I haven’t found any personal time to do so.

Now onto the actual episode with the analysis of Guts- this time, the episode did Guts legitimate justice as a character, as he is treated to much more than his past. With Dimitri, it also did pretty well as there’s not really anything I personally disagree with.

I know there were some people who took issue with the analysis, starting with the fact Dimitri was stated to have magic; however, they also were factoring in Three Hopes, which in that game he was able to use magic. To briefly touch on the animation, I can understand the issue of Dimitri stomping should have ended the fight with the lightning attack shutting down Guts’ armor, though I dislike that possible ending and you'll see why when I get to the actual ending.

Next, let's talk about those who disagree with the Rhea thing- you need to realize something with Death Battle as it's clear you guys don’t do VS Debating stuff: scaling is important, and Dimitri should get the scaling considering Edelgard and Byleth did kill Rhea in Edelgard's route.

There's also the fact that Dimitri kills Edelgard in his route, and also fights a powered-up version of her anyways. Scaling matters in these match-ups.

But onto the animation itself: I absolutely loved it - the back and forth with them becoming more bloodied and hurt, but neither caring due to how they fight. I especially loved the "voices in their heads" scene before Dimitri and Guts power up again. Plus, holy fuck the music is so good,

Brandon Yates did an amazing job with God's Hand.

Now the ending: if the voices scene didn't happen, this would be my favorite part. Dimitri thinks Guts is dead, then all of a sudden he gets up and breaks his lance, but ends up dying because he fought until every drop of his blood was gone. I also love the touch that the Berserker Armor is the reason why he is still standing despite dying. Dimitri realizes Guts fights for those who lost their lives too, and then decides to fight for Guts. Holy fucking shit man, this may be one of my favorite Death Battles of all time.

Closing thoughts, I absolutely loved this episode of DB and the team did an amazing job with it.